HerdevsHeuteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Herde” and “Heute” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,505
“Herde” frequency rank
#127
“Heute” frequency rank
12632
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Herde Heute
Definition Gruppe von meist größeren Säugetieren der gleichen Art, die im losen oder sozialisierten Verband (mit Ausbildung einer Rangordnung) leben; Gruppen von flugunfähigen Vögeln und Gruppen verschiedener Arten kommen ebenfalls in Herden vor Gegenwart, die heutige Zeit (Zeit in der wir leben)

Where the eye mixes Herde and Heute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Herde
5 ch
Heute

Look-alike desk: Herde vs Heute

A purely visual mix-up. Herde ([ˈheːɐ̯də]) and Heute ([ˈhɔɪ̯tə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12632, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Herde is recorded at frequency rank #12,505, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈheːɐ̯də]. Heute is at rank #127, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯tə].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 12632, this pair ranks #1,963,000 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Herde vs Heute

Shared letters: eh. Private to "Herde": dr. Private to "Heute": tu.

"Herde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Heute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Herdeehrde · hedre · herdde · hered · herrde · hherde · hrede
  • Heuteehute · hetue · heuet · heutte · hheute · huete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Herde" and "Heute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈheːɐ̯də] versus [ˈhɔɪ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Herde" or "Heute" show up more?
"Heute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #127 in our German list, against #12,505 for "Herde". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Herde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Heute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,963,000 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Herde" and "Heute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hardi vs Herde". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,963,000 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list